0:00Okay, so in the last video I showed you the
0:03basics for layout containers.
0:05I showed you how sometimes the layout
0:07containers can change purpose from a
0:09horizontal to vertical
0:11and vice versa.
0:13And then I used color to basically help
0:15show you that.
0:16We're going to be doing that a little bit
0:18more.
0:18In today's video I want to focus on
0:20something a little bit more challenging
0:21where we essentially
0:22use everything that we've learned to create
0:25something a little bit more dynamic and
0:27interesting.
0:28This is a homepage system.
0:30The idea is that it links to different
0:32sheets or different dashboards and you'd
0:35click on
0:35an icon and it would take you there.
0:37Now those sheets or dashboards aren't
0:39actually here yet so clicking on anything
0:41won't do
0:42anything but the thing we want to focus on
0:45is the structure.
0:46And so I've actually created a colored
0:48example here just to try and make things a
0:51little
0:51bit simpler.
0:53So you can see here that we've got a whole
0:56range of colors going on and each one per
0:59tains
1:00to a layer on the dashboard.
1:03And if we look at this structure here you
1:04'll notice that you can actually sort of
1:06just
1:07about make out that hierarchy here.
1:10And if you sort of organize your layout
1:13containers then this is actually quite a
1:15useful guide
1:16of seeing what's where.
1:17So we start off with a tiled section, yes,
1:19and then a horizontal section across the
1:21whole
1:22sheet.
1:23In that we have a vertical section which
1:26can pretty much contain everything on this
1:29sheet.
1:29Next to that is a blank section and another
1:32blank section.
1:34Expand that again.
1:35Inside of that we have a horizontal section
1:38at the top with a text sort of titled
1:40inside
1:41of it.
1:42You have another bit of text below it.
1:44As I'm clicking these you can see that it's
1:46highlighting the appropriate section here.
1:49And then if we highlight that vertical
1:50section there then you'll see, okay, this
1:52vertical
1:53section contains more items.
1:55So let's go into that.
1:57And if we minimize these sections you start
2:00to get the trend here.
2:01We're basically stacking containers inside
2:04of each other to achieve an overall effect.
2:07The overall effect is that when we look at
2:10this dashboard and we start resizing it, it
2:13's
2:14fairly responsive.
2:15If I do this and start moving things around
2:19you'll see it's not as fast but it responds
2:22.
2:22And the icons, because these are shapes in
2:25a sheet and they're set to fill the entire
2:27view, when the space gets small then they
2:30get smaller.
2:32So you get a sort of fake responsive sort
2:34of feel to the dashboard where it adjusts
2:37to fit whatever height it's given in, it's
2:39sort of put in, which is I think quite nice
2:41.
2:42And similarly with width, these lines can
2:44show you here that, you know, if you had an
2:46image here on the right hand side rather
2:48than the blank space then you'd essentially
2:50get
2:50sort of an expanding and diminishing image.
2:56And so if we go back to this sheet and we
2:59get the dashboard hierarchy out, you start
3:03to see basically if you put together all
3:06the tips and tricks that we've learned so
3:09far
3:09on layout containers, you can start to
3:11build some quite compelling user interfaces
3:13that
3:14you can use.
3:15And so I'm just going to walk you through
3:17how I built this and whilst I'm doing that
3:20you'll see a few tips and tricks that I use
3:23to make this fast and simple.
3:25So I'm going to minimize that and I'm going
3:28to go back to this sheet and I'm going to
3:31create a new dashboard.
3:32For now we're not going to use any of the
3:34sheets that we've built so far, we're just
3:35going to use this sort of area here on the
3:38left.
3:39Let me just give myself a little bit more
3:41space.
3:42So if we start with, I'm going to make this
3:43automatic.
3:44I'm going to make it fill the whole screen
3:46just so you can see what I'm doing.
3:49Next up, the first thing I'm going to drag
3:51on is a horizontal container and let's
3:53color
3:54that so that you can see that it's actually
3:56on there.
3:57Sometimes it's difficult to know what's
3:59going on.
3:59Some thin colors just help make it a little
4:02bit more obvious.
4:03So the first thing we've got here is a
4:05horizontal container and inside of that
4:08horizontal container
4:10I'm actually going to put a blank area and
4:12that's going to be sort of in on the right
4:15hand side and if you don't believe me it is
4:17in there but because it's the only thing it
4:19's
4:19taking up the whole screen.
4:22And then the next thing I'm going to put
4:24inside of that is a, I think I'm going to
4:26put a vertical
4:27area here on the left hand side.
4:29So we've got a vertical and a blank space
4:32here.
4:33Now the vertical container is actually
4:35taking up pretty much all the space because
4:38by default
4:39blank containers don't have a set width.
4:43They're sort of flexible and the vertical
4:45containers or layout containers
4:47automatically
4:48adapt.
4:49Again they've got no set width so what's
4:51happening here is that vertical container
4:53is taking
4:54sort of precedence over this blank area.
4:57There's nothing in it so it becomes the
4:59smallest thing on the dashboard.
5:01If you were to set a fixed width of that
5:03then obviously it would then abide by that
5:05space
5:06but because there isn't any there isn't
5:08anything sort of happening there.
5:10Next thing I'm going to drag in is a
5:12horizontal container and again looks like I
5:14'm just dragging
5:15an attempt to space but it is actually in
5:18there.
5:18So just dragged in the horizontal space
5:21into the vertical container and then the
5:24first
5:25thing is going to be a text space.
5:27So let's call this super store sales menu
5:34system.
5:36Excuse my spelling.
5:38There we go and let's make this nice and
5:42large.
5:43Let's make it 20 and yeah.
5:45So there we go.
5:47So now if we highlight that you'll see that
5:50there's a horizontal space in there and
5:52inside
5:52of that is a text item.
5:55It's perfect.
5:56Okay the next thing I'm going to do is I'm
5:57going to drag another text item and this is
5:59just going to be called description text.
6:03So this bit of text describes something.
6:09I'm just going to say okay so we've got
6:13this area here at the top and I'm going to
6:16color
6:17that layout container again just so you can
6:19see what's going on.
6:21I'm going to make it green and then you've
6:23got the text just below that.
6:25And then the next thing now that we've got
6:28that layout container in there is I'm
6:30actually
6:31going to drag in a blank space and I do
6:33this just to make my life a little bit
6:35easier because
6:36sometimes you need something in the
6:39container to be able to drop something else
6:41in and you'll
6:42see exactly what I mean a little bit later.
6:45So I'm going to now drag in the vertical
6:47right in between there and you'll see that
6:49that's
6:50now taken up all the space again.
6:52It's gone and taken the full width and I
6:55can now select this blank space and delete
6:58it.
6:59So we've got our vertical container, we've
7:01got text just above describing what this is
7:03and this is our title and if we compare
7:05that to what we have so far you see it's
7:08very similar.
7:09We've got our superstore sales item there,
7:12hover or click on the Arkansas Navigate
7:14which
7:14is our description text and now we're
7:17getting into the bulk of sort of the meat
7:19of this
7:20area here.
7:21Now I'm going to use images rather than
7:24sheets for now just to basically show an
7:26example
7:27of how to do this quickly but you can use
7:30sheets instead of images where I use the
7:33icon.
7:33So we've got a vertical container in here
7:36and again I'm going to use a blank
7:39container.
7:40I'm going to put those inside to help me do
7:42something a little later on and you'll see
7:45why that is in a second.
7:46So I have put in a blank area, it's gone
7:49inside of this vertical and I'm putting
7:52another blank
7:53area in there and a lot of this is actually
7:57just sort of blind faith.
7:59It is there, if you select them you can see
8:01that they're there but I think as a user
8:03sometimes
8:04you can think well what's going on here,
8:05nothing happened.
8:06But pay attention to this layout view here
8:08because that's where the magic is really
8:11happening
8:11and so vertical container automatically res
8:14izes anything inside of it equally if they
8:17have
8:17no set height or width and that's exactly
8:20what's going on here.
8:22It's sized the blank, two blank areas the
8:26same height and the width is now abiding by
8:29this sort of split that we've got here.
8:32You might notice that this has been
8:34changing back and forth as we put things in
8:36there,
8:36that's being controlled by the containers
8:38that we put inside and the text items that
8:40we put inside.
8:41And now the next thing I'm going to do is
8:47drag in five vertical containers and these
8:53are going in again, that's one, two, three,
8:56four and we need five so just do one more.
9:00There we go, just to prove that they're
9:02going in I'm going to format those and
9:05color them
9:07alternating colors just so you can see what
9:10's going on.
9:11There we go.
9:16Now I hope you can now appreciate why I use
9:19coloring a lot because imagine if I hadn't
9:21colored anything this would all just be
9:23white and I wouldn't know what the hell's
9:25going
9:25on if I was honest.
9:26So I'm now going to delete the two blank
9:30spaces I put in there and if we select this
9:33layer
9:34container and I'm just going to format that
9:36and I'm going to color it red you'll see
9:39that
9:42in our layer container here, in our
9:44vertical layer container we've got one, two
9:46, three,
9:47four, five vertical containers and they're
9:50equally spaced out and you can see that
9:52here
9:52in the hierarchy.
9:53So you've got a horizontal section, our
9:56text section just below that and our
9:58vertical section
9:59containing five more vertical containers.
10:02Excellent.
10:03Next step is putting these icons and text
10:06in there.
10:08Icons in my case would be sheets but I'm
10:09just going to use images to keep this video
10:11nice
10:11and short.
10:12So how are we going to put these in there
10:15and how are we going to get them to space
10:17my seal?
10:18We're going to need a horizontal container.
10:20So again a bit more blind faith here.
10:22We're going to put a horizontal container
10:25in there and in there.
10:27And I know it's doing this because when I
10:29hover over the vertical area the blue line
10:32is going around the container to tell me
10:35yes this is about to get dropped inside of
10:37here.
10:37And that's what happens if I put it
10:39somewhere else like there that would tell
10:40me that it's
10:41about to put a horizontal container in
10:43between the two verticals.
10:45We don't want that.
10:46So I'm just going to carry on doing what I
10:49'm doing.
10:50Okay and you'll see I now have something
10:52inside all my vertical containers and if I
10:55select
10:55that you can see the switching there
10:58between those two there.
11:00Okay so now that we've done that again a
11:02bit more blind faith here.
11:04If this had no color you wouldn't be seeing
11:06anything.
11:07Just all still be white.
11:08We haven't got a single sheet on here.
11:11But what I'm doing is really important.
11:12I'm building the structure for my semi
11:15responsive menu system here.
11:18So next thing now that I've got something
11:21horizontal in each of the vertical
11:23containers
11:24I'm going to put some text in there and I'm
11:27going to call this menu option one.
11:30I'm just going to make this nice and big.
11:32And I'm actually going to copy that.
11:34I'm a bit lazy today so I'm just going to
11:36copy that in there.
11:37When you do that you realize a vertical
11:39container suddenly shrinks.
11:41And in a way that makes sense because what
11:43it's saying is well this vertical container
11:45doesn't need more space than that height.
11:48So let me minimize that and make all the
11:51others the same.
11:53And if I drag a text item into that one,
11:56click okay, you'll see it does the same
11:59again.
12:00And if I drag another text item into this
12:04container here, it does the same again.
12:08And again.
12:12And the last one something very different
12:15happens.
12:16So it said okay those are your containers.
12:19Let's just have a look and make sure
12:21everything went in okay.
12:23It's always good just to look back here in
12:25your layout view and make sure everything
12:27went where you wanted it to go.
12:30And that appears to be the case.
12:36That's perfect.
12:37Yeah, everything went where I wanted it to
12:41go.
12:42Now the next thing I need to do is to drag
12:45in a blank item on the left hand side of
12:48each
12:48one of these.
12:51And that's just going to give me a bit more
12:53space to work with.
12:54Let's just do that now.
12:59We're going to delete these later on, but
13:01again they just make it much easier for me
13:03to manipulate.
13:05And then in between these I'm going to use
13:07images.
13:07This is an icon set that I really, really
13:09like.
13:10Use it a lot in Tableau and it's just got
13:13some great, great icons.
13:16So let's just say, let's just use some
13:18random images.
13:19Here we go.
13:20And when we pick an image in Tableau
13:22realizes hold on a minute, this image is
13:24huge.
13:25Let's give it more space.
13:26And that's exactly what it does.
13:29But let's do that to all of them first.
13:31And you can see what Tableau's decision
13:34Tableau's making here.
13:35So let's choose another icon so you can see
13:37what that looks like.
13:38And then it was quickly running out of
13:40space here.
13:41But let's keep going.
13:44See what happens as we add more.
13:46Now can you start seeing it's actually now
13:48equally distributing them.
13:50It ran out of space at the bottom so now it
13:52's time to equally distribute the ones at
13:53the
13:53top.
13:55And when we add in an image at the bottom,
13:58same thing happens again.
14:01And this is a final one.
14:02I'll use a paper airplane.
14:05Perfect.
14:06So we've got our five images nicely spread
14:09out here.
14:10And we're going to get rid of the blank
14:15spaces we've put on the left hand side.
14:20And voila, we have our many options.
14:23Next thing to do is to just center the
14:26image and fit them.
14:28Again if these were sheets you'd probably
14:31not be doing this.
14:33You'd probably set them to fill the entire
14:40view.
14:41But at the moment they're resizing because
14:44there is something else that is taking up
14:47more space.
14:48So do you see how when I finally told this
14:52one to fit the image, it decided okay, I'll
14:57do that properly now.
14:58And it equally distributed everything
15:00across the page.
15:02And there you go.
15:03That's your paper airplanes.
15:04The last thing I'm going to do is I'm going
15:06to edit the width.
15:07I'm going to give all these the same width.
15:09I'm going to give them a width of 150.
15:11I'm going to copy that because again I'm
15:23pretty lazy.
15:27Keep going.
15:33Okay.
15:38And of course they're not all many option
15:40one.
15:41They're different menus.
15:44Double click that.
15:52This is the fifth one.
15:54Perfect.
15:55And so now I'm going to try and remove all
15:58the coloring so you can see that we have
16:01really
16:02ended up pretty much close to where we
16:05started at the beginning minus a few sort
16:08of finishing
16:10touches that you can do yourself.
16:13So I've taken off the background wallpaper,
16:16sorry wallpaper color on that layout
16:18container.
16:20I'm just going to select the layout
16:21containers here.
16:22I'm going to format container.
16:24There's nothing there.
16:26I'm going to select the layout container
16:27here again.
16:28There's a layout container again.
16:31There's none there.
16:33Perfect.
16:34I'm going to select the layout container
16:37for the whole thing.
16:38And hopefully you're noticing my workflow.
16:41I use different methods every single time
16:43to get to layout containers.
16:44I don't ever use the same one every single
16:47time.
16:48So I'm going to go here, being slightly
16:56slow here.
16:58Sometimes when you select, you select the
17:01text item and not the layout container.
17:05And obviously because we've got the
17:06vertical and the horizontal in there, I had
17:08to do that
17:09twice to get to what I want.
17:12And so maybe I'm just going to put in a
17:15small blank space in between these.
17:19Reduce that a bit.
17:25Use Tableau's automatic snapping sort of
17:28feature here.
17:29It doesn't come up.
17:33And there we go.
17:39That's a very, very quick overview of how
17:42to create something responsive.
17:44And I hope you agree.
17:45There you go.
17:46As if I start resizing this, you'll see
17:50that everything sort of resizes.
17:53Now, if you were using sheets, the idea is
17:56that you wouldn't use these blank lines.
17:59You'd use something a bit more accurate.
18:01So I'd actually use an image in between all
18:04of these so that you get the same
18:06consistency
18:07in each horizontal section.
18:10Secondly, I'd use sheets because they give
18:12you more control of these icons.
18:14And then you can also apply actions on them
18:16.
18:16You can't apply actions on images.
18:18Lastly, if we have a look back at this one,
18:22the finished sort of example, just some pol
18:27ishing
18:27touches on the font and some information
18:31here at the bottom that you can use.
18:33But there you go.
18:34So now we're going to build a responsive
18:37sort of menu system.
18:38In the next video, we'll go through tying
18:41all of this together.
18:42And so we'll actually create a Superstore
18:45sales dashboard, which will have this menu
18:48system.
18:49And it will have a couple of other dash
18:51boards as well that we'll interact with.
18:53And we'll cover a few new ideas there.
Tableau | Data visualisation